Can You Use and Old Air Handler With a New Condenser?

You just took the plunge and bought a brand spanking new energy efficient heat pump for your home. It's got a high SEER rating, an efficient Copeland scroll compressor, chlorine-free R-410A refrigerant, and a corrosion-resistant coil. This unit is going to help you cut power consumption, and save money. But will it work with your old air handler?

What You Should Know

So...what's the verdict? The answer is: maybe, and you'd better find out before you start mixing and matching. If the air handler is the same brand as the heat pump, you might be okay. However, if the air handling unit is a different brand, you may want to test your luck elsewhere. It's kind of like a lion trying to be best friends with a zebra. It could work for a little while, but eventually something is going to go horribly wrong.

Old Air Handler Q&A

Before you go jamming a square peg in a round refrigerant tube, there are a few basic questions you should answer about your new heat pump and your existing air handling unit. If you answer 'no' to most of these questions, you probably need a new air handler.

1. Are the heat pump and the air handler the same brand?
2. Is the air handler only a few years old? If it's old enough to play varsity ball, that's a bad sign.
3. Is the air handling unit designed to accommodate a heat pump? Air conditioners and heat pumps are similar, but they are not the same thing. An air handling unit not designed to work with a heat pump probably won't.
4. Do they use the same refrigerant?

And, honestly, you need a 'yes' to all of those questions. To match with a new condenser, you want an air handler that is the same brand, relatively new, and designed to work with a heat pump. Any other combination is almost certainly going to end badly.